Letters

Timetable trouble

COASTLINER summer timetable is out and once again the residents of Stockton Lane in York have drawn the short straw.

Last year it was the residents of Stockton-on-the-Forest who had no bus service after 20.45 from York and complaints were made and it has been changed to 22.55.

The last bus going to York from Stockton-on-the-Forest/Galtres Road/Heworth Church runs at 20.33. I cannot believe that in summer the last bus from Stonebow to Leeds is at 22.12.

Why can’t this bus run to either Stockton-on-the-Forest or Galtres Road as it did in the winter timetable and run later so the people of Copmanthorpe and Tadcaster can go to the theatre or pictures in York which they cannot do now.

The council tells you to get out of the car and use the bus, we would if we had a decent service.

Mr Wright, Whitehouse Gardens, York.

Comments (2)

First off, be thankful you have a bus which goes THAT late. Some areas of the city aren't served anywhere near as late as that... New Lane and Jockey Lane (the New Lane end) is only served by buses during the day, the very last number 12 which serves there leaves Stonebow at 4.40pm... with NO bus on a sunday as the council in all their 'wisdom' decided that sunday bus should only go as far as Elmfield Avenue - the fact that the bus runs completely empty should tell them something, but I won't hold my breath. By cascade this means roads such as Brockfield Park Drive, Doriam Drive, Sadlers Close, and others, don't even have a bus that gets them home if they finish work at 5pm in the city.

Second, the last bus to Leeds actually leaves York station at 8.09pm - every bus after that only goes to Tadcaster.

And why the bus times keep getting reduced for last buses is due to a combination of factors... Transdev have decided the York depot will no longer run any 'Coastliner' services, so all the buses go to and from Malton instead which means the drivers have further to go - this then makes the EU interference come into play... if you have ever seen an East Yorkshire bus on the X46 route, you will see it says "Market Weighton, connecting for Hull", this is because the EU have made it illegal for a bus to run more than a certain distance without a digital tachograph and a specially trained driver - the fact the bus has the 'connection' where passengers can stay on the bus is a special exemption only the UK have... but this EU interference means that beyond a certain distance it costs the company much more to run the bus, so more services terminate at Tadcaster instead of going to Leeds. Personally I'd have thought it would make sense to have a driver swap at York in order for the bus to keep going to Leeds, but now that would mean the York drivers need to be trained up to EU standard.
The other reason is pure and simple cost cutting by Transdev - it is becoming more common knoweledge that what were once really good companies are gradually being run down by them. Back in 2004, the last bus to the coast left Leeds at about 5.30pm (went to Bridlington) - but now they've taken that back by an hour, and the last bus to Brid is at 2.20pm. The company is trying to coast on the 'Coastliner' brand whilst hoping people won't notice it's decline (the fact buses are leased instead of being properly purchased so as to cascade to other depots after 6 or 7 years, the leasing now meaning there's no supply of 'new' buses to these other depots; or that buses run around and the sign saying "Leeds" on the front is in a font size so big it doesn't all fit in the box, or that the back of the bus doesn't show the route number and is trying to show the same as at the front; or the reduction in frequency between York and Leeds)... It is much easier to make a bad reputation than a good one, and a company can only cruise on a good reputation for a short period of time before it goes downhill - and once the reputation has gone sour it takes years to get it back again (Firstgroup is an example of that... and what's ironic there is the people now turning that company around are the same people who managed Coastliner before Transdev bought them out in about 2006/7).

The Coastliner timetable changes again in October, don't hold out any hopes of the later buses returning.

First off, be thankful you have a bus which goes THAT late. Some areas of the city aren't served anywhere near as late as that... New Lane and Jockey Lane (the New Lane end) is only served by buses during the day, the very last number 12 which serves there leaves Stonebow at 4.40pm... with NO bus on a sunday as the council in all their 'wisdom' decided that sunday bus should only go as far as Elmfield Avenue - the fact that the bus runs completely empty should tell them something, but I won't hold my breath. By cascade this means roads such as Brockfield Park Drive, Doriam Drive, Sadlers Close, and others, don't even have a bus that gets them home if they finish work at 5pm in the city.
Second, the last bus to Leeds actually leaves York station at 8.09pm - every bus after that only goes to Tadcaster.
And why the bus times keep getting reduced for last buses is due to a combination of factors... Transdev have decided the York depot will no longer run any 'Coastliner' services, so all the buses go to and from Malton instead which means the drivers have further to go - this then makes the EU interference come into play... if you have ever seen an East Yorkshire bus on the X46 route, you will see it says "Market Weighton, connecting for Hull", this is because the EU have made it illegal for a bus to run more than a certain distance without a digital tachograph and a specially trained driver - the fact the bus has the 'connection' where passengers can stay on the bus is a special exemption only the UK have... but this EU interference means that beyond a certain distance it costs the company much more to run the bus, so more services terminate at Tadcaster instead of going to Leeds. Personally I'd have thought it would make sense to have a driver swap at York in order for the bus to keep going to Leeds, but now that would mean the York drivers need to be trained up to EU standard.
The other reason is pure and simple cost cutting by Transdev - it is becoming more common knoweledge that what were once really good companies are gradually being run down by them. Back in 2004, the last bus to the coast left Leeds at about 5.30pm (went to Bridlington) - but now they've taken that back by an hour, and the last bus to Brid is at 2.20pm. The company is trying to coast on the 'Coastliner' brand whilst hoping people won't notice it's decline (the fact buses are leased instead of being properly purchased so as to cascade to other depots after 6 or 7 years, the leasing now meaning there's no supply of 'new' buses to these other depots; or that buses run around and the sign saying "Leeds" on the front is in a font size so big it doesn't all fit in the box, or that the back of the bus doesn't show the route number and is trying to show the same as at the front; or the reduction in frequency between York and Leeds)... It is much easier to make a bad reputation than a good one, and a company can only cruise on a good reputation for a short period of time before it goes downhill - and once the reputation has gone sour it takes years to get it back again (Firstgroup is an example of that... and what's ironic there is the people now turning that company around are the same people who managed Coastliner before Transdev bought them out in about 2006/7).
The Coastliner timetable changes again in October, don't hold out any hopes of the later buses returning.Magicman!